Which was Mencken's cautious way of saying 'police' over the phone.
'I'm glad everything is going so well. Thank you so much for calling…'
For Norton it was a panic situation, but Norton, ex-FBI, never panicked. He had created the core of Unit One when Senator Bradford March had offered him a large salary as his personal chief of security. It was Norton who had organized the attempts to kill Barton Ives before Ives had fled to Europe. Norton had proceeded methodically.
He paid his hotel bill, put his bag in the hired Renault and returned to the dining-room. Five minutes later he watched Tweed and his companions leaving. Later he was ready to follow them in his Renault to the Zurcher Kredit Bank. Now he waited patiently, then saw Marler coming out with the same equipment he'd taken inside earlier – a long cylinder which could contain a viewing screen, a tape recorder, a canvas hold-all which was more tightly packed.
Pressed against the canvas was a circular shape about the size of a film canister. Turning over a page of his book, Norton shrewdly summed up the situation.
'If only I still had the troops…'
But he hadn't any troops left. They had all been taken by the police. Standing with the book in his hands Norton took a major decision. He couldn't report to March that he had failed – that would be committing suicide. Time to change sides again, to survive.
'That film March was raving to get his hands on must contain some deadly material. Otherwise why send such a large body of Unit One to Europe?' March was losing a battle – Norton's sixth sense, developed during his years as a top FBI agent, told him this.
He recalled a certain powerful senator he had once done a favour for, suppressing certain incriminating documents which would have ruined his career on the hill. Yes, it was time to contact Senator Wingfield, to offer him his services again. For a substantial fee…
Norton followed the Espace and the station wagon and was not surprised when the. two vehicles entered the car park at the Chateau d'Ouchy. Parking his car near where the boats left for Evian in France, he walked back to the hotel. He strolled into reception just in time to hear Tweed giving instructions to the girl behind the counter.
'We shall be leaving today. Could you please make up the bill for myself and Miss Grey. No hurry. We'll be here for lunch…'
Which gave Norton time to clear up a loose end. Mencken. Norton was very careful about clearing up loose ends. He was not going to risk Mencken reaching Washington first – maybe even telling March how all the failures had been Norton's fault.
Returning to his car, he crammed a Swiss hat on his head, pulled it well down over his forehead. On the seat beside him, next to the mobile phone, rested a walking stick he had also purchased. Picking up the mobile phone he dialled Mencken's mobile phone number, hoping he was within range.
'Yes, who is it?' Mencken's voice demanded after a long wait.
'Norton. Where are you? We have to meet, urgently. To make future plans.'
'I'm halfway between Ouchy and Vevey. Away from the activity.'
'Very wise. Everything is quiet here now. But you are right – it would be wise to keep away from the town. As you drive along the lakeside road towards Vevey there is a point where the road turns away from the lake. By the edge of the lake there is a small wood near the path continuing along the lakeside. You noticed this? Good. I will meet you there in three-quarters of an hour. Best to make sure your car is hidden just off the path. And I did say it was urgent.'
'Understood,' Mencken replied tersely.
In his room at the Chateau d'Ouchy Tweed was giving his own urgent instructions to his whole team. Barton Ives listened as he spoke briskly. Action this day, thought Paula.
'All of us – except Philip Cardon, who is guarding Joel Dyson in his room – are driving direct to Cointrin Airport, Geneva. From there we catch a flight to London. Which puts us on the spot to catch the afternoon Concorde flight to Washington non-stop.' Tweed looked at Ives. 'I do know Senator Wingfield, met him while attending a security conference in Washington, but are you certain you can trust him?'
'Wingfield,' Ives assured him, 'was born and raised a patriot. Not many of them about. That doesn't mean to say he has the track record of a saint – how else would he get to the position of great power he occupies?'
'You mean he can be ruthless?' Paula suggested.
'Maybe that's exactly what I do mean. But this horrific situation kinda suggests ruthless measures. I have phoned him,' he told Tweed. 'He's expecting me, with the evidence, but I omitted to tell him you'd be along too.'
'Thank God for that,' Newman said vehemently. 'Before we land at Dulles I want to radio ahead, hire several cars. I strongly urge that along with Butler, Nield and Marler, I go aboard Concorde as though I've nothing to do with you.'
'What danger could there be to you guys?' queried Ives.
'We have all seen that diabolical film which could wreck the entire government of the United States. I foresee that very strong measures will be taken to see that does not happen.' Newman looked at Tweed. 'This trip is going to take some organization…'
'All dealt with,' Paula interjected. 'Tweed told me some time ago to prepare for this contingency. Flights are booked, tickets waiting to be collected at airports. I'm wearing my skates, Bob.' She turned to Tweed. 'We take the film and the tape with us, then?'
'We do – to show Wingfield. Marler brings his equip ment with him to save time. I want a quick in-and-out trip.'
'Preferably coming out alive,' Newman warned.
'What about Joel Dyson?' Paula interjected again. 'I've booked tickets on a separate flight from Geneva to London for Cardon and Dyson.'
'Where, after arriving, he will escort Dyson to a safe house. Where Howard is,'Tweed added.
'And what do I do with this?' enquired Marler, lifting up a second hold-all. 'With the weapons you've taken off us it's jolly heavy.'
As though on cue, there was a knock on the door. Newman jumped up, unlocked and opened it cautiously. He said, 'Wait a minute,' closed and relocked the door before he handed an envelope to Tweed.
'A Swiss in a business suit,' he reported.
Tweed opened the envelope, scanned the letter, nodded.
'It's from Arthur Beck. Among the men picked up was one with a suitcase containing twenty million dollars. He had experts open it and they defused a thermite bomb inside. That detective outside is to collect the weapons. We can hardly try to board an aircraft carrying them…'
'What about Gaunt, Eve and Jennie?' Newman asked when he had handed the hold-all to the Swiss and closed the door.
'I had a word with Gaunt before we came up,' Tweed went on. 'He's changed his mind about trying to identify who assassinated Amberg in Cornwall. Maintains it's now a hopeless task – at least that's what he said. He's driving back to Basle with Eve and Jennie. Remember, he berthed his yacht, cabin cruiser- call it what you will – the Mayflower III on the Rhine at Basle. He's sailing back to Padstow.'
'With Eve as well as Jennie?' Paula queried.
'So he said.'
'I find that curious, very strange,' she commented.
'So do I. But as soon as we get back from Washington that's where we're off to. Padstow. We still have to track down who committed mass murder at Tresillian Manor and why. To say nothing of who pushed that poor servant girl, Celia Yeo, off the top of High Tor…'
Marvin Mencken was excited as he sat behind the wheel of his Renault with the window open. As instructed, he had parked the car off the road inside a copse. Invisible to traffic passing along the road, it was close to the footpath running by the lakeside.
Mencken was excited because for the first time he was going to meet the mysterious Norton face to face. He had never liked taking orders from someone he'd not even recognize if he sat next to him in a diner.
Despite the sunshine it was a raw cold day. Mencken kept the engine ticking over so he could turn up the
